Author Topic: Bumblebee  (Read 1348 times)

Offline rabbitwarren

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Bumblebee
« on: December 09, 2018, 03:01:50 PM »
Reviews look....

Good.  :o

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Offline cabler30

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2018, 03:46:35 PM »
That is a postive sign if good reviews since sometimes not many will even check it out if not any good since i guess a percentage of traffic go based on what is said of any movie. i cant wait to see it later, reviews or now since like transformers since was a kid. so gonna try see in movie place if all goes right later.

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #2 on: Today at 07:00:22 AM »

Offline CarrieD

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2018, 12:03:33 PM »
I saw it on Saturday, I think this one might be the best Transformers movie.
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Offline perc2100

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2018, 12:17:45 PM »
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Reviews look....

Good.  :o

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I saw this film Saturday.  To give quick background: 1) I was a fan of the toys in the early/mid-80s and a fan of the animated movie 2) I'm not into the property much nowadays 3) I really didn't like the Bay live-action films at all.  I went to this screening SOLELY because my 16 year old son has been looking forward to this film since last spring, and the BUMBLEBEE panel was his favorite of 2018 Comic-Con: I was 'taking one for the team' essentially. 
In other words, I was predisposed to at best be blase' about the film, and at worst dislike.

I was in utter shock how much I enjoyed this film.  To say it's the best of all the Transformer films in an incredibly low bar that it feels disingenuous.  To say "this is the Transformers film fans have been wanting" also seems a bit disingenuous as it basically just restates "best film" in a different way.
This is an actual entertaining film, with a great emotional core to the story.  People will maybe rave about the Cybertron stuff, and all of the great-looking classic characters: and there are a plethora of them to make fans happy, with Arcee making her CGI debut among others!  And while the Cybertron sequence at the top of the film kicks off the war-part of the story, it was an aspect that to me was on the least-interesting side.  And that's why this film is exceptional: I wanted MORE of the human interaction, rather than G1 Soundwave, Shockwave, the cone-head jets, Ravage, Wheeljack, etc.  The sequence is a great way to hook fans in, but it isn't until we get to the humans that the story kicks off.

There's almost a SW through line with the way the characters are all introduced: the huge opening battle-Prime giving orders to Bumblebee-Bumblebee to earth-Bumblebee meeting the US government/learning Decepticons were following/after him-Bumblebee meeting Charlie and settling in = a really effective throughline that gets us quickly involved in story & intros the characters.  Honestly, I also thought the first act feels fairly well-aligned with ET, in regards to space alien lands on earth, is met with immediate resistance from government, finds a kindred spirit in a younger person, and settles into said younger person's home & life.  Right down to "younger person goes about their daily duties (this time in work vs school) while the alien makes a mess of the house" sequence.  An inventive way of maybe subtly referencing classic films while servicing the characters and stories of the modern one.

And not enough can be said about Hailee Steinfeld.  She is the emotional core of the movie, carrying large chunks, and she NAILS it.  I don't know her at all outside of BUMBLEBEE, and wasn't expecting a ton from her acting-wise but she is flat-out great in a role that doesn't necessarily need to be (meaning, most of these types of movies rely on the CGI characters more than humans, but Ms. Steinfeld does a lot of heavy lifting here).  Jorge Lendeborg Jr. is also fun, without much to do: he's the sidekick-type who has some genuinely sweet moments, and some funny ones as well.  The voice acting of Angela Bassett (she especially KILLED as evil Shatter, the leader of the two Decepticons tasked with hunting down BUMBLEBEE) is another highlight of the cast.  Movies like this don't fare well if the voice talent just sleep-walks through the script, but Bassett expertly handles going back and forth from "I'm pretending to be helpful so I can get my way" and diabolical.  She brings a slightly chilling presence to the proceedings that underscores the dangers of Decepticons in general, and to Bumblebee specifically.  John Cena, conversely, is the lowlight of the cast.  He is one of the first humans we see on screen, and he brings a crackerjack, hammy action-movie cheese to the proceedings that is nothing if not fun.  Cena is clearly having a blast with this role, and I was right there with him at first, expecting that type of acting to be par for the course.  But he is outclassed by Steinfeld quite a bit with her acting depth, and even by Bassett's range as a voice actor.  He's not necessarily a detriment, but his lack of legit acting experience comes through in spades, and doesn't work when the movie quickly shifts from cheesy action bits at the beginning to the emotional core of Charlie's story/journey from girl who isn't yet over her dad's death to confident problem solver trying to do the right thing with alien Bumblebee.

The action beats are what they are: not amazing, but not bad at all.  Honestly, there aren't a ton of action set-pieces in this film.  The movie focuses more on the emotional aspect of Bumblebee rather than the asskicking robots.  Brilliant move by producers to hire a stop-motion animation director to bring CGI robots to life.  Bumblebee has more depth of emotion via his eyes and body language than Shia LeBouf & Mark W. have ever exhibited in these films.  There are some comedic moments that work really well, one of which almost had me in tears laughing.  There wasn't once in this film that the Transformers ever didn't feel like they existed in that world.  The Bay films had all of the superfluous moving gears and whatnot, with suspect CGI at times; this film had characters that looked on the same plane as the humans.  The colors all popped well, and even in the all-CGI confines of Cybertron there was never a moment of, "wait - which one is that character again?"

I really can't stress enough of enjoyable this film is.  I think it would work well for non-fans and fans alike.  There are moments that feel in alignment w/the Bay films that might tick some off, but they're easy to ignore for the most part.  There was a "mid-credit" scene that felt like the least patient mid-credits scene ever.  At the screening I was at it came immediately after the director credit (which is contractually the very first credit in the post-credits): I honestly can't recall right now what the scene was though.  We saw a slight behind-the-scenes feature after the film that was maybe 3-5 minutes long that felt like a Bluray fluff extra: not bad, but not exactly super insightful either.  I dunno if that will be on the theatrical release or not.

All-in-all this is a flat-out entertaining film.  It almost feels like a PG kids film that producers didn't want to risk being too 'lame' for teens and young adults to ignore.  There is zero blood (humans get disintegrated into clear gooey fluid) , and I don't remember much bad language (there were a few words Captain America would disapprove of).  The Decepticons are 100% menacing, and the tone of their scenes provide the PG-13 rating easily.  The Autobots are portrayed as being super desperate, near the end of their line in this civil war that the Decepticons are thiiiiiiiiis close to winning.

Again, it feels odd for me to write a glowing review for a Transformers movie, but by gods this film not only nails the franchise well visually and tonally, but is a flat-out good movie altogether.  I suspect this film won't do as well at the BO with the "Into the Spider-verse," "Mary Poppins," and AQUAMAN films potentially all doing better business.  But if you have the time/inclination you should definitely make time in your busy holiday schedule to see it


Offline perc2100

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2018, 12:18:18 PM »
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I saw it on Saturday, I think this one might be the best Transformers movie.
I think it's better than the animated '86 film, myself.  And I'm a fan of that one!

Offline CarrieD

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2018, 05:08:22 AM »
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I saw this film Saturday.  To give quick background: 1) I was a fan of the toys in the early/mid-80s and a fan of the animated movie 2) I'm not into the property much nowadays 3) I really didn't like the Bay live-action films at all.  I went to this screening SOLELY because my 16 year old son has been looking forward to this film since last spring, and the BUMBLEBEE panel was his favorite of 2018 Comic-Con: I was 'taking one for the team' essentially. 

I went only because my niece is a huge fan and wanted to go. I was thinking this would be 2 hours of my life I would not get back. I was pleasantly surprised how good this movie was. The script and cast were great. My brother and I grew up in the 80s watching the cartoon and really enjoyed Bumblebee.
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Offline Chris

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2018, 08:32:09 AM »
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Good.  :o


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Offline AzT

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2018, 07:43:25 AM »

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Offline FBS

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2018, 10:29:50 AM »
Lots of fun with a real family story at the heart of it. Breathes new life into a flagging franchise.

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Offline Dan Berry

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2018, 07:40:34 AM »
Agreed with most of the thoughts above about the movie, I also wrote a review of it.
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Offline Chris

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2018, 02:39:54 PM »
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Offline accelerate

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2018, 02:01:48 AM »
This was without a doubt the best movie in the franchise (although I do still have a soft spot for the first one). Bumblebee had something sorely missing from the Bay-directed ones: heart. If you want to boil it down, it was a story about a girl and her car, with the war between the Autobots and Decepticons merely as a backdrop. If you're disappointed by the description, all I can say is, give it a chance. We've had five movies of the same old fight... this one takes a completely different angle. Hailee Steinfeld was utterly fantastic. Honestly, good acting is not something you'd expect in a robot movie, but she killed it. John Cena, not so much, but he did have a couple of nice moments. If you enjoyed the Transformers of the 80's, you will LOVE the many, many callbacks to the original cartoon. I won't spoil it here, but I was grinning from ear to ear with a certain scene on the cliff.

Offline rabbitwarren

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Re: Bumblebee
« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2018, 04:21:48 PM »
I guess I should have known right at the panel, when they kicked it off with Stan Bush and ended it with Peter Cullen that the franchise was in the hands of a fan, who loved the G1 cartoons like many of us did back in the day. Seeing Arcee, Soundwave (with his original sound) and Ravage, Cliffjumper, wheel jack et al in the beginning just brought a big grin to my face.  This is the first transformers movie where I left the theatre wanting to go back and watch the G1 cartoons again (even the Rodimus episodes)